If you are booted from a Gentoo LiveCD, you are able to use mirrorselect
to update /etc/make.conf so fast mirrors are used for both Portage
as source code:

# mirrorselect -a -s4 -o >> /mnt/gentoo/etc/make.conf

If for some reason mirrorselect fails, don't panic. This step is
completely optional. If mirrorselect fails, the default values suffice.

Copy DNS Info

One thing still remains to be done before we enter the new environment, and that
is copy over the DNS information in /etc/resolv.conf. You need
to do this to ensure that networking still works even after entering the new
environment. /etc/resolv.conf contains the nameservers for your
network.

# cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/gentoo/etc/resolv.conf

Entering the new Environment

Now that all partitions are initialised and the base environment
installed, it is time to enter our new installation environment by
chrooting in it. This means that we change from the current
installation environment (LiveCD or other installation medium) to your
installation system (namely the initialised partitions).

This chrooting is done in three steps. First we will change the root
from / (on the installation medium) to /mnt/gentoo
(on your partitions) using chroot. Then we will create a new environment
using env-update, which essentially creates environment variables.
Finally, we load those variables into memory using source.

Congratulations! You are now inside your own Gentoo Linux environment.
Ofcourse it is far from finished, which is why the installation still
has some sections left :-)

Optional: Updating Portage

If you are not using GRP, you must download a recent Portage snapshot
from the Internet. emerge sync does this for you. GRP-users should skip
this and continue with Differences between
Stage1, Stage2 and Stage3.

# emerge sync

Differences between Stage1, Stage2 and Stage3

Now take a seat and think of your previous steps. We asked you to
select a stage1, stage2 or stage3 and warned you
that your choice is important for further installation steps. Well, this
is the first place where your choice defines the further steps.

If you chose stage1, then you have to follow both steps in
this chapter (starting with Progressing from Stage1
to Stage2)

If you chose stage2 you only can skip the first step
and immediately start with the second one (Progressing
from Stage2 to Stage3)

If you chose stage3 (either with or without GRP) then you can skip both
steps and continue with the next section: Configuring the Kernel

Progressing from Stage1 to Stage2Introduction to Bootstrapping

So, you want to compile everything from scratch? Okay then :-)

In this step, we will bootstrap your Gentoo system. This takes a
long time, but the result is a system that has been optimized from the
ground up for your specific machine and needs.

Bootstrapping means building the GNU C Library, GNU Compiler
Collection and several other key system programs. The GNU Compiler
Collection even has to be built twice: first with the "generic" compiler
we provide, and a second time with the compiler you then just built.

Before starting the bootstrap, we list a couple of options you might or
might not want. If you do not want to read those, continue with Bootstrapping the System.

Optional: Decreasing Compilation Time

If you want to speed up the bootstrapping, you can temporarily deselect
java-support. This means that the GNU Compiler Collection and the GNU C
Library will be compiled without java-support (which decreases
compilation time considerably). Although this means that you wont have
the GNU Java Compiler (gjc) this does not mean that your
system won't be able to use java applets and other java-related stuff.

To deselect java-support temporarily, define USE="-java" before
firing up the bootstrap script.

# export USE="-java"

Don't forget to unset the variable after bootstrapping:

# unset USE

Optional: Downloading the Sources First

If you haven't copied over all sourcecode before, then the bootstrap
script will download all necessary files. It goes without saying that
this only works if you have a working network connnection :-) If you want to
download the sourcecode first and later bootstrap the system (for instance
because you don't want to have your internet connection open during the
compilation) use the -f option of the bootstrap script, which will
fetch (hence the letter f) all sourcecode for you.

# cd /usr/portage
# scripts/bootstrap.sh -f

Bootstrapping the System

Okay then, take your keyboard and punch in the next commands to start
the bootstrap. Then go amuse yourself with something else (for instance harass
Gentoo developers on #gentoo), because this step takes quite some time to
finish.

# cd /usr/portage
# scripts/bootstrap.sh

Now continue with the next step, Progressing from Stage2
to Stage3.

Progressing from Stage2 to Stage3Introduction

If you are reading this section, then you have a bootstrapped system
(either because you bootstrapped it previously, or you are using a
stage2). Then it is now time to build all system packages.

All system packages? No, not really. In this step, you will build
the system packages of which there are no alternatives to use. However,
some system packages have several alternatives (such as system loggers)
and as Gentoo is all about choices, we don't want to force one upon you.

Optional: Viewing what will be done

If you want to know what packages will be installed, execute emerge
-p system. This will list all packages that will be built. As this
list is pretty big, you should also use a pager like less or
more to go up and down the list.

# emerge -p system | less

Optional: Downloading the Sources

If you want emerge to download the sources before you continue
(for instance because you don't want the internet connection to be left
open while you are building all packages) you can use the -f
option of emerge which will fetch all sources for you.

# emerge -f system

Building the System

To start building the system, execute emerge system. Then go do
something to keep your mind busy, because this step takes a long time to
complete.

# emerge system

When the building has completed, continue with Configuring the Kernel.